At long last, almost-unattainable Xiaomi smartphones might be coming to Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries soon.

During a press event in Taiwan, Chinese company Xiaomi's newly appointed vice president Hugo Barra commented about his recent trip to Singapore, which is where the company will set up operations for Southeast Asia.

The ex-Android head honcho also mentioned that he has been “spending a lot of time with potential partners in other countries, in Southeast Asia primarily”.

This is as official as it gets for Xiaomi to launch its Android smartphones outside of China. The company’s main success is based upon its inexpensive high-end smartphones, which are usually sold out on launch day. It has since introduced accessories such as a media streamer, router, battery packs and even upped the ante against Apple with a Xiaomi TV on its webstore.

The company has a cult following much like Apple’s. Xiaomi fans are known to wrestle for vacancies at the company’s product launches and events. But unlike the Cupertino-based company, Xiaomi users take an active role in shaping the user interface MIUI and future smartphones under the Xiaomi flag. User feedback is constantly monitored and considered by Xiaomi's product team, and are often introduced via firmware updates for the MIUI.

Though Xiaomi has gained international recognition, especially after it successfully wooed Barra, it has not hit the global market in a big way. Its plan for a Singapore office, which Barra said will be “set up as quickly as possible”, is a clear indication that the company intends to bring the highly customisable Xiaomi smartphones outside of China very soon.